Day trips have kinda been my thing since I’ve been here. It gives me a nice break from studies without costing very much in time or money. Today I went to the Pope’s lake house. It’s about a 40 minute train ride from here and cost a whopping €2,10 or about $5 round trip. The palace is in a little town called Castel Gandolfo. And to my mind, it is an idyllic Italian village

The place is up on a mountain with a beautiful lake view.

Believe it or not, the Pope has a nicer summer place than I do. There are two main reasons for that. One he is the Pope, and two, I don’t have a summer place. In any case, the place is as beautiful as you would imagine.

It really is stunning to see the Papal apartment. This may be the last day trip by myself for a while. Next week, our class is taking a trip to the Vatican on Saturday and then the Colosseum on Sunday. The following Friday we go to Tivoli. The Friday after that is Orvieto. More importantly, my partner in crime shows up in ten days so we will be making lots of trips together!